cazador

great place,greatfood,greatatmosphere andgreatservice. this place is a little gem.

cazador was always a goodie but wow!!, what a transformation. cazador has always been a favourite for this foodies in the know but dariush and rebecca have dragged this gem of a restaurant kicking and screaming into the current millenium. they have made a few physical changes such as the now open view into the kitchen and the sumptuous toilet decoration. the lovely and private back garden is a really good addition too. but let's face it, this restaurant is all about the food. dariush pushes the boundaries for most of us. i'm a farm girl and have eaten lots of offal and wild creatures,but never before have i been confronted with rabbit lungs (apart from being buried in haggis of course). fabulous. the rewarding thing is that the name is much more frightening than the end product. pan fried with mushrooms and herbs this is the perfect autumn dish. mildly flavoured and an interesting texture...actually they were quite similar to the mushrooms. the little pre-meal starter of poussin hearts should not be missed. don't be scared, poussin is the fancy french name for young chicken, but the hearts actually taste more like the best and most tender beef steak. tiny mouthfuls of pure gold! our table of 6 spent a wonderful evening of sharing bites from each other's plates. we struggled to decide which were the best dishes but the consensus was the poussin hearts and the wild boar shoulder. slightly disappointing were the desserts. the over flavoured rose-water sorbet was too icy in texture and the poppy seed cake was just ok. the chocolate mousse was however excellent! i still give the cazador restaurant 5 stars as it is meant to be all about the meat dishes. portions are perfect in size and all are paired with plenty of vegetable garnishes. you really don't need to order side dishes unless you are a vegetable freak. agreatwine list and a funky retro dacor make for a perfect evening. go there

very interesting experience, this place offergreatservice and good selection of drink. most of all if you want to try quail, venison and liver parfait this is the place!

as a persian i have always grown up knowing about the reputation cazador entails. they are specialists in game cooking so it does have a specific taste. i love how the flavours blend together! definitely agreatplace to go to- theres a reason why it always tops the metro rankings!

my favorite auckland restaurant. no ocean views to be fair, but a lovely little garden area out the back, and an intimate, cozy feel. beautiful food. presented well, good portions, super-fresh ingredients and cheap for what it is. the service is perfect. the dishes dynamic, showcasing the incredible ingredients. it is clean, game themed but modern, and the bathrooms are a real delight. if you are vegetarian this place is not agreatchoice though, if only due to the decor. other than that, if you have not been then you are missing out.

i cannot get over how amazing this place is! a true hidden gem! took a chance on this place as i'm a vegetarian! they accommodated me brilliantly and it was without a doubt the best pasta dish i've ever had! my partner is the biggest meat eater and had the venison and he was blown away as well by howgreathis dish was! i tried some of his sauce and it was so good! proportion was just enough to satiate us. can't stop raving about this place! having my birthday dinner there next month! xoxox

celebrated a birthday dinner here on a friday night. must say the place was packed for a friday! super easy parking and ambiance is lovely and cosy. we started off with babaganoush and braised squid both were packed full of flavours and executed nicely. for main we ordered quail and venison were very good dishes. the only dish that i found was pretty average was their dessert pear tart was okay. overallgreatfood andgreatselection of drinks! service wasgreatand will be back for sure.

if you are into game restaurants you'd probably love this place! there are taxidermied animal heads displayed all over the walls and the menu is full of all different types of meats. we came her for my mother's birthday with around 20 guests. the service wasgreatfor such a big table but we did had to have a set menu. the tasting platter was the first course with a varied selection of pate, tongue, relish, gherkins, venison chorizo and bread. all beautifully cooked but flavours i personally don't love. the second course was a choice of either venison or quail. the meat was cooked to perfection, the portions were very reasonable and the accompanying salads and sauces were delicious. the third course was some sort of chocolate gateau that was far too sweet for my liking but i did like the pistachio nuts and caramelised orange. not my favourite type of cuisine but a good place to try something new.

the second generation management has certainly upheld the traditions of this fine restaurant. servicegreatambience as good as ever and the food superb. we tried rabbits lungs as an entree and it was great. the boar fillet had a truffled polenta that was very close to being the star of the dish, the boar was cooked perfectly. try the mulled wine with the delicious nan - e- bakhshi to start a very enjoyable dining experience

cazador has been part of the auckland landscape for literally a generation - dariush and rebecca have taken the reigns of this iconic game restaurant and are literally 'rocking' it.  no longer a quiet secret, but splashed all over the place as agreatspecialist game style restaurant.  the thing with this sort of history is the old fashioned recipes for things likegreatcharcuterie get passed along - and there is a foundation....  the interior is the same for a reason - although the green bunker seating is rather nice!

make a reservation or miss out!  i have to now!! the game is not as scary as people might think - liver pates and terrenes are regulars on the menu.  pea and smoked boar hock soup (think pea and ham but flavoured up a 'little' if it makes you feel better).  the small game birds - are somewhat de-boned so you are not struggling with your meal. 

i 'fell' for the hare and papperdelle - these were traditional foods for me so i am extremely biased in this arena - but they do it really well!~

came here for family birthday celebrations and we loved every minute. delicious food,greatservice awesome environment. will certainly be back!

cazador is a charming kitschy restaurant complete with round archways, plastered walls and more taxidermied beast and fowl than some diners will feel comfortable with. the bar area was packed and boisterous at 6pm when we arrived, the dining area quietly well behaved.

well known for game and offal dishes served in an unfussy style. the style is simple but bold flavours using unusual ingredients. cazador is agreatplace to try new things. the menu features 5 starters and 5 mains with daily specials to entice. the main menu is updated every 2-3 weeks to keep things interesting, though favourites will re-appear in various forms.

the most interesting things on the menu on the night we visited were:
• crumbed lamb’s brains with sauce gribiche
• poussin hearts with pancetta and parsley 

we ordered a range of dishes and sampled each others meals because we were all very curious. favourites were the braised ox tail, the poussin hearts and the lamb’s brains.

this is agreatplace for adventurous eaters. also seasonal, free range and ethically sourced meat eaters will enjoy cazador's offerings. gluten free options available. although i’ve heard they do make wonderful vegetarian food, vegetarians would probably do best to avoid or call in advance. even ex-vegetarians might be squeamish here, though there is always 1 or 2 fish dishes for pescitarians to enjoy.

the service is super. our drinks and food orders were taken in good time and paced perfectly. “johnny-on-the-spot” always kept our waters topped up. portions were a good size, for those wanting 2 or 3 courses, though the slow cooked goat dish was huge. it would have been nice if the sizes of the mains were more uniform.

cazador are extremely good at what they do. bex made sure we had a lovely evening and dariush is a star working magic in the kitchen. everything was tasty and interesting. while the prices are a little expensive, they are very reasonable for the quality of food and thegreatexperience. will absolutely be back. looking forward to our next visit already.

edit: i came back with my family on my birthday. best dish had to be the fried lambs' tongues. sounds challenging but was very easy to eat.

dined at cazador on a busy thursday night with a gaggle of gal pals, thoroughly enjoyed the food, atmosphere and whole experience. we had drinks beforehand (saffron gin with orange blossom, pimms, spanish sherry ) in their intimate little bar with a view into the kitchen. its apparently newly renovated but is feels very retro with its spanish archways and plaster work walls, and is full of trophy deer antlers, antique artillery (!) and family memorabilia. charming maitre'd and owner rebecca provided us with a tasting platter of mouthwatering snacks, the hit of which was lamb-tongue fries, which were golden crumbed and served with homemade rosemary ketchup! so good! the game terrine was also a surprise. something i would never order for myself but wasgreatto share and i loved it.

once seated we ordered from a range of mains and specials such as boar chops or fillet (with pea risotto and chorizo), peppered venison, goat, hare ravioli...hard to choose. i had the ravioli and it was utterly delicious. the hare both inside and out of the ravioli was delicately shredded and braised with some kind of fantastic thinly sliced mushroom i could not identify, and a lovely combination of flavours (i can also not identify). the boar fillet (flintstone sized! generous portions at this establishment) looked good too and the goat was a surprise. not gamey or like lamb it all, it had a subtle flavour, was super tender and had a tangy sauce that featured yogurt. the drinks list had lots of interesting wines from nz, spain, france and italy. i just ordered the spanish tempranillo that is their house red and it was lovely. the service staff were friendly and attentive while giving us lots of time and space to chat and catch-up. we felt like we were being treated to a special night.

desserts were incredible. the chocolate mouse topped with candied orange rind, pistachios and rock salt is chocolate perfection, and as five out of six of us ordered it i can only comment on one other dessert. this was a dutch apple pie with homemade bay-leaf ice-cream. it was beautiful - the apples were tart and the ice cream fragrant. a nice alternative to the rich mousse.

cazador's vibe is so different to anywhere else in auckland with its worldly ambiance, family feel and spectacular array of challenging and different food. it feels like real a getaway, as if you have traveled somewhere new without actually leaving the auckland burbs. looking forward to the next visit, spending more evenings in the dinky bar and new courtyard and would highly recommend to all as one of the best neighbourhood restaurants in this city if not all of nz!!!

went to cazador mid last week for my friends birthday, i had made a booking there for 4 of us as i have been there many times over the last 10 years with various friends however i hadn't been there for almost two years before last week. when we walked in it was to a new cazador, it felt lighter and more spacious, although it still managed to retain the charm of the previous visits.

the food was amazing as usual, we ordered one serving of calf’s tongue chips between the table as they sounded interesting but we were all a little hesitant, i really wish we had ordered a serving each as they were not just a novel thing to eat but they tasted great, we also had two servings of a persian bread that sounded alright on the menu but was amazing when it arrived on the table, not often something is better in your mouth than it sounded on the menu.

between the four of us we had two main of wild boar, venison and rabbit with a serving of salad, green beans and potatoes (i'm not big on veggies but i could have happily eaten just the sides, the green beans and potatoes were all cooked just like i remember my grandma cooking veggie which really pleased my taste buds) and all the meals looked and smelt delicious, every one was raving about their meals on the way home while already planning what they wanted to try next on return visits, can recommend the new look cazador any more highly, if you've been there before you love it just as much and if you haven't then you really are missing out.

lastly the staff, they were amazingly friendly and welcoming, best service i've experienced in a while, there was an enthusiasm and sincerity that many places don’t have but all the staff here had both thesegreatattributes in abundance

my husband and a group of friends dined here on one of cazador's wine and food matching nights.
such agreatexperience! the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, the food interesting, perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious, i would have licked my plate if there weren't so many people there! will be returning in the nearest future